Chapter Text
007n7 sighed to himself, preparing himself for his new job.
See, the thing about him was that he only wanted to take this job, in order to have enough money to take care of the new kid he just took in, in hopes of being able to find him a new home soon, only for a small amount of time.
Just a small, simple job he could do, to support himself. He really didn't care about the kid, Noli just left him and was gone from the picture, and just wanted to save up, buy him the basic things a little baby needed, and get him out of there.
It shouldn't take too long, right?'
Right?..
If he was being honest, the last place he wanted to work at was at Brother Builder's Pizza, especially knowing that the small history he was known around that place. If he was being completely honest, he was even surprised they hired him, despite the things he did. He wouldn't of ever of planned to work there, anyways, but it was the only best option he had.
He sighed, placing on his new work uniform, yet leaving the visor on his neatly made bed. He saw no point in wearing it, at least for today. He finished prepping himself up, ready for the day. As he walked out into his living room, a small, baby C00lkidd was found, asleep in his little box-bed, looking peaceful.
007n7 readjusted his glasses, before carefully picking up the box, shifting the box in a more comfortable way to hold. God, this baby was fat and heavy.
He walked out of the house, holding the boxed baby in his arms, making his way to his friend's house, 118o8.
She had agreed that she'd watch C00lkidd while 7n7 was at work, just for a little bit, before he got sent either into a new home, or an adoption center. The walk wasn't very far, as it was only a few blocks away. Once he approached her home, he shifted one of his arms to hold onto the box, while the other arm knocked on the door. Soon enough, 118o8 answered, smiling.
"Hey, Seven! You excited for your first day?" She smiled, opening the door more, almost sounding sarcastic. Of course he wasn't excited for work, who would be, especially when he was known for his notorious acts? 118o8's hair was different, as usual. Last time he saw her, she only had strawberry colored hair, but now? Her hair was now Neapolitan ice cream colored, with some different colored sprinkles, ranging from blue, mint green, yellow, and purple colored.
"Dude, did you change your hair again? What are you, Ramona Flowers?" 7n7 scoffed, smirking at her new hair. It wasn't bad, if he was being honest. He just liked teasing and messing with her.
118o8 playfully rolled her eyes, smirking. "Course I did! I got bored of the pink itself, y'know,"
"Your hair is gonna be fried if you keep changin' it."
"Yeah, but at least it'll be cool lookin'."
Guess she had a point there. He handed her the box, C00lkidd still asleep surprisingly. "You gonna name the baby yet?"
7n7 scoffed, as he handed her the box. "Nah. If I name it, I'll get too attached, and I don't wanna get myself attached to a baby. Only gonna keep it for a bit."
118o8 shrugged, understanding his point and perspective. In some ways, his logic made sense, but not entirely. The baby wasn't a stray animal, living out on the streets. It was a Robloxian— err… a creature, of some sort. A mammal, maybe? Point is, the baby wasn't some kind of helpless animal, clinging onto a human. It's a baby, a small, unwanted baby, who was abandoned by his original family.
Though, she didn't really mention it to 7n7. She knew he lacked empathy, and didn't really care much about others, unless his close friends or loved ones. That's just how 7n7 was. Too closed off, and selfish in many ways. He probably would never change, and would probably stay like that for the rest of his life. She was lucky to even imagine 7n7 giving a shit about her, and actually caring about her.
"I guess so," She started off, turning her back into her house, carefully gripping the box. "You get goin' now, text me when you're done with work! Tell me all about it when your done."
7n7 grinned widely, as she took the baby away from him. "You're the best, Eight! See you later!"
And off he went. Making his way to the pizzeria, about to start his new job. This should be interesting for him, at least. What could go wrong?
…
Elliot was humming to himself, rolling out pizza dough. He has a cheery smile on his face, hyperfocused on the pizza dough. He liked this job, and his routine. Both of these things were extremely important to him. His routine was simple; Wake up, eat breakfast, get dressed, brush your teeth, go to work, go home, eat dinner, sleep, repeat.
He had been taking this job since he was about 10, helping with small things, of course, like putting the toppings on the pizza for example. Now, here he was, freshly 18, still doing the same thing he's been working for about 8 years now.
Ding, ding!
The bell above the door dinged. He looked up from the kitchen window, wondering who could that be.
Oh. Him.
007n7.
Elliot's positive, joyful smile, quickly turned into a frown. Of course, the day he's all happy and feeling more extra positive, 007n7 comes in, and will potentially ruin his day. Still, maybe Elliot can just ignore him, right? Don't give in, and just focus on himself. Good idea, right?
Right.
007n7 made his way to the back of the kitchen, where he found Elliot, staring at him. Both stared uncomfortably, until 7n7 broke the silence.
"You're starin, kiddo. You got a crush on me, or somethin'?"
Not even a minute or two had passed between them interacting, and Elliot was already starting to feel pissed off. Still, he sighed to himself, and made eye contact with the pizza dough, kneading it.
"As if. I can't picture myself liking someone like you." He muttered, his golden side bangs shifting each time he continued to knead the dough, trying his hardest to just focus on it.
"I'm not a kid, either, y'know.."
7n7 smirked, finding more ways to get Elliot upset. "You look like a kid. You have a baby face."
"Please stop."
"C'mon! You look uh— 15! You're 15, am I right?"
"I'm 18. It was just my birthday recently."
7n7 giggled, while smirking. He had an annoying laugh, the kind of laugh that made you want to punch someone. "Really?! You, being 18?? That looks hard to believe!"
7n7 shouldn't really be talking, when he was currently 20, going on 21 in the next year, but again, 7n7 is naturally an asshole, who enjoys messing with people. It was like he had pleasure messing with people, and enjoyed seeing people upset at him.
Elliot looked up at him, pure annoyance in his eyes. It was rare for Elliot to show his anger, as he either suppressed it or just didn't take it out on people, but this? This was a good reason for him to be upset.
"Shut it. You are pissing me off. Now, can you, please, stop being an asshole, and help me knead this dough??"
Wow. That was unexpected. The words didn't do anything to 7n7, rather he was just surprised at how Elliot dropped his whole "Mr. Nice Employee" face.
He shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal. Whatever. He made his way to the table, slouching over just a bit, to knead out the dough. His tail swished a couple of times, purposely hitting Elliot's lower back, but Elliot didn't react. He knew that if he reacted, 7n7 would've found amusement out of it.
The two of them worked in silence, not daring to talk. 7n7 was actually pretty focused, surprisingly, kneading and rounding the dough up into little spheres, and flattening them out.
"Oh, by the way, you need to put your hair up."
What?
7n7 looked over at Elliot, confused. "Huh?"
Elliot looked back at him, still rolling out the dough. "Put it up. If you have long or medium lengthened hair, you're required to put it up."
Ah. He didn't know that rule was a thing. Before he could say something snarky, Elliot grabbed onto 7n7's shoulders, spinning him around, his back facing Elliot. "HEY—! What are you doing?!"
"You'll live. I'm just putting your hair up." Elliot mumbled, a hand reaching into his pant's pockets, pulling out an extra ponytail band. He brought it up to 7n7's hair, twisting and tying it around as if it were a balloon animal.
7n7 didn't fight back, or yell, but instead, he just let him do it. He didn't know why, something in him just told him to let it happen. Elliot talked while putting it up. Talked too much. Making comments like how 7n7's hair was tangly, how he should get more hair products. Real annoying stuff. Did he ever shut up?
Once Elliot was done, he moved back from him, looking at the ponytail. He felt good about it and himself, feeling proud. The ponytail was a small, medium length one, slightly messy.
"There. All done! Tomorrow, wear a ponytail, and wear your visor, please. You can wear your burger hat, I don't care, but please, wear your visor tomorrow."
7n7 turned back at him, not sure what to say.
"Uhh— thanks?.. I guess?"
It wasn't really necessary to do all of that. Not at all. He could've just done it himself, but whatever.
Elliot nodded in response, turning his head back to the pizza dough, humming softly to himself.
7n7 just stared at him, studying him. He rolled his eyes, turning to knead out the pizza dough. Elliot seemed boring and annoying, always wanting to follow the rules, and try his hardest at everything. How boring!
Though, weirdly enough, for whatever reason, Elliot putting his hands in 7n7's hair actually felt kind of nice.
Wait, what?
What the hell was 7n7 thinking?? He shook his head to himself, not understanding why he felt like this.
No, clearly he didn't like Elliot like that. It was just because of Noli leaving him almost a week ago, he just missed having a Robloxian being having physical contact like that. He was just touched starved, right?
…Right?
Yeah, that sounded good to him. Made perfect sense. It seemed logical enough to him. Clearly he had no romantic feelings for Elliot. This was just because he was touch starved, starved for human contact, knowing that he'd never get it again, especially knowing Noli will never give him any of it back. Yeah. Good enough explanation.
7n7 tried to ignore it, and not think about it. Just focus on the pizzas. Easy as that. Ignore this strange feeling, and you'll be fine. Easy.
Besides the weird encounter, the day went fine. Though, it was slightly overwhelming, due to how understaffed this pizzeria was. 7n7 was in charge of cooking the pizzas and boxing them, which was more stressful than it sounded. But, otherwise, his first shift wasn't too bad. He did mess with Elliot a couple of times, but otherwise, it wasn't so bad.
It was about 6:45 now, 7n7's time to clock out. He was packing up, when he noticed Elliot again, boxing the last pizza. 7n7 being the wonderful, cocky asshole he was, decided to mess with him again. He slowly crept up behind him, and snagged his visor. Elliot jumped, and quickly turned around, pure annoyance on his face.
"Give it back, please."
7n7 giggled, raising the visor above his head, knowing that Elliot couldn't reach. "Try and get it, pizza boy!"
Elliot grumbled, trying to reach for it, but wasn't tall enough. Elliot was about 5'7, but 7n7 was wearing boots that made him taller, he looked to be around 5'10 with them on (when in reality, he was only 5'8). He shoved his hand into Elliot's face, covering it as he giggled louder, finding it amusing.
Elliot swabbed his hands around, while being basically blinded by 7n7's hand in his face, trying to get the visor back. This whole thing felt like they were suddenly two 7 year old boys, messing around with each other. God, 7n7 was slightly older than Elliot, but he was so immature, despite his age.
Finally, 7n7 decided that was enough, and removed his hand from Elliot's face. Elliot was clearly annoyed, finally snatching the visor away from him, and putting it back on. 7n7 chuckled, the amusement bringing him joy. Elliot wanted to put his hands on those stupid horns 7n7 had, and rip them off from his forehead, but instead, just sighed, and continued frowning. "You done yet?"
"Oh, I'm done alright. But you need to not care so much about little things like that. It's just an innocent, joke, Elli."
Elli? That's a new one. No one ever called him that, but, whatever. "Just... get goin', please. I need to close up shop soon."
7n7 playfully rolled his eyes, ruffling Elliot's hair, purposely messing it up. "You need to learn to have fun. But, whatever you say, kiddo."
Elliot grumbled, at the annoying nickname. 7n7 smirked, and walked away from him, clocking out of his new job.
7n7 made his way to 118o8's house, ready to pick up C00lkidd. He knocked on the door, waiting patiently, as his tail swished around. Soon enough, the door opened. 118o8 smiled as she saw 7n7's face, opening the door fully, signaling him to come in. "Heya! How was your first day, Seven?"
7n7 shrugged, as he entered the house. "Wasn't too bad, actually. I had to work with the owner's son, though, Elliot."
"Didn't know the owner had a son. I just assumed he was some worker."
7n7 chuckled, sitting on the couch, turning his head to continue talking to 8o8.
"Yeah. The kid is passionate about this job, he was being annoying, but it was fine otherwise."
8o8 smirked, sitting next to him on the couch, crossing her legs. "Surprised you put your hair up. You never put it up."
Oh, right. His hair. He rolled his eyes, chuckling softly, "Nah, Elliot did it. Insisted that I needed to have it up, so he did it himself."
8o8 giggled, the thought being funny to her. "He seems like an interesting guy,"
The two giggled with each other, then sat in silence for a few seconds, before 7n7 spoke up. "Though, it was strange, because when Elliot, uhh... touched my hair like that, it made me feel... something."
She raised an eyebrow, looking at him confused. "Go on?"
7n7 leaned back into the couch, sighing. "I don't know if it's just because I miss Noli, and somehow, Elliot reminded me of him, but something made me feel... warm inside, if that were to make sense."
8o8 nodded in response, listening to him. "So, you got a crush on the pizza guy already?" She half-jokingly asked, smiling at him. She wouldn't be surprised if 7n7 did have a crush on the pizza boy. 7n7 always almost had a new boyfriend or girlfriend back in high school. Take Noli, for example. Both of them dated senior year, and lasted up until now. Same for her, too.
8o8 and 7n7 used to date back in sophomore year, for a little bit. In the end, they decided that they were just better off as friends. 7n7 always had some kind of charm to him, pulling people into his circle, like he was some kind of magnet, almost.
"No. Not in a million years. It's not like that, Eight, it's just— complicated, I guess. I just miss Noli, and miss having that physical contact we both had, y'know. That's all. I'll get over this soon." 7n7 scoffed, shaking his head, like he was disappointed by her asking that question.
The thing about 7n7 was that he was never one to really talk about his feelings, either that, or his responses related to his emotions and feelings were short-responses. He tended to change topics quickly, as well. Anything, just to avoid talking it out. He never knew why he never liked talking about them, the feeling of opening up being rather discomforting for him, strangely enough.
"Say, where's the uh, red baby?"
"Hm? Oh, he's sleeping, on my bed. Took him out of the box, and I just fed him, gave him a nice bath, and helped him sleep. The little guy's pretty chill, actually. He's a cool kid, y'know."
"It's still a baby, idiot. Not even a full grown child yet."
8o8 giggled, playfully punching 7n7's arm, a cocky smirk on her face. 7n7 rolled his eyes, smirking back at her. He stood up from the couch to go grab the baby and go back home. As he approached the room, there he found C00lkidd peacefully sleeping, small bits of drool pooling down from his mouth. Oddly enough, he looked quite peaceful like this. Adorable, even.
He gently took him out of the box, not planning on taking it back, and carefully held him, making him rest on his shoulder. He flinched as he felt the drool dripping down his shoulder.
Gross. He was definitely changing out of this shirt once he got home.
As he made his way back to the living room to say his goodbyes to 8o8, the baby cooed, nuzzling his head against his shoulder.
"Guess the little guy likes you, huh?" 8o8 smiled, standing up from the couch, crossing her arms.
"I guess so.. Kinda surprising to me."
For once, 7n7 smiled. An actual, genuine smile, at the baby. That was surprising. "Alright, same time tomorrow?"
8o8 smiled, leading him to the door, and opening it. She waved goodbye as he exited the house, walking over to his house. The night was quiet, and silent. You could only hear crickets chirping softly, as well as 7n7's footsteps. Once he entered into his house, he gently placed the baby down on the couch, getting a small pillow to rest his small head down, as well making sure the small blanket was covering his whole body.
Once that was all done, he sat down next to the sleeping baby, turning on the TV. He switched channels, looking for something good to watch, but so far, nothing good was on. However, oddly enough, he had this one specific thought in his head, which wouldn't leave him alone.
Elliot.
Why was he thinking of Elliot?? He didn't like Elliot in a romantic way, right? These thoughts were consuming his brain, overwhelming him. Out of all the things to think about, why Elliot??
He shook his head, as if he was responding to someone in the room. No, no, this isn't a weird crush. It's just 7n7 being lonely, and missing Noli, and missing physical contact with another Robloxian.
He's just touched-starved, that's all. Nothing more to it.
He doesn't like Elliot, nor does he have a crush on him.
He can guarantee that. This'll just go away soon, this is just a phase he felt. Surely, it'll be short and temporary, and then be gone soon. Right?
...
Yeah, right.